1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to improvements in the field of evaporative coolers.
The invention particularly relates to the field of reduction of hard water deposits and their corrosive effects in the reservoir of a conventional evaporative cooler.
The invention specifically relates to the use of an auxiliary reservoir to supplant the existing reservoir of a conventional evaporative cooler.
2. Prior Art
Evaporative coolers are an important means of cooling residences and other buildings in the arid southwestern portion of the country. This region, extending from the deserts of California to those of Texas, is a region of high temperature and low relative humidity. It is the low relative humidity which makes it feasible to cool buildings by the use of evaporative coolers. Air is forced past and through a water saturated pad. In its passage it causes the evaporation of water from this pad which reduces the temperature of the air. This cooled, moisture laden air is then passed to the interior of the building to both cool the building and raise the relative humidity therein.
In maintaining the evaporative cooling pads saturated with water, the usual procedure is to provide a water reservoir in the base of the cooler and to pump water from the reservoir to the top of the evaporative pads. The water is distributed to the top of the pad and is dispersed downward therethrough under the influence of gravity. Excess water exiting from the base of the pad returns to the reservoir.
Because water is constantly being evaporated as air is forced past and through the evaporative cooler pads, a replenishment water supply is required. This is generally achieved by connecting a float control valve to a water supply. The float control valve monitors the level of water within the reservoir. When the water level is lowered due to the evaporative action of the cooler, the float valve is operative to permit water from the water supply to enter into the reservoir thereby replenishing the water and once more raising the float valve to the level at which the valve inhibits entry of additional water.
With the constant evaporation required for proper cooling effect, the water reservoir soon becomes saturated with salts dissolved within the incoming water. These residues soon appear and form a slime at the base of the reservoir. The reservoir and other parts of the cooler require regular cleaning if the implacable progress which this slime makes in advancing up the walls and to the outside of the cooler surfaces is to be prevented. Those skilled in the prior art have attempted to ease the burden on the person performing the maintenance on the evaporative coolers. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,290,020 issued to Findley Dec. 6, 1966, luggage-type latches are employed to permit the ready disassembly of the evaporative cooler enclosure to permit ready access to the interior of the cooler and the reservoir therein. This somewhat relieves the burden of cleaning and painting this interior.
Mackay et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,526 issued Nov. 18, 1980 also employs a quick-release latching mechanism in an evaporative cooler having a one-piece, frameless shell secured to a bottom pan and a top cover. The top cover was readily opened to permit easy access to the components of the evaporative cooler housed within the frame.
While inventions such as these noted above permit a ready access into the evaporative cooler enclosure, the task still remains of removing the water salts from the base of the reservoir. Lack of care on at least an annual basis can result in the corrosive failure of the reservoir in four to five cooling seasons.
It is an objective of the present invention to reduce the buildup of corrosive salts within the reservoir of a conventional evaporative cooler device.
It is a further object of the invention to simply and readily modify existing conventional coolers such that the base of these conventional coolers no longer serve as a reservoir of water to be used for circulating to the evaporative cooling pads.
It is a specific objective of the invention to provide a readily removable, easily replaceable auxiliary reservoir which supplants the original reservoir provided with the conventional evaporative cooler device.